Community Safety & Crime Reduction
What is Community Safety?
Community safety is a term defined by the Home Office as:
"an aspect of 'quality of life' in which people, individually and collectively, are protected as far as possible from hazards or threats that result from the criminal or anti-social behaviour of others, and are equipped or helped to cope with those they do experience"
"It should enable them to pursue, and obtain fullest benefits from, their social and economic lives without fear or hindrance from crime and disorder"
The Northern Ireland Community Safety Unit website states that:
"Community safety means preventing, reducing or containing the social, environmental and intimidatory factors which affect people's right to live without fear of crime and which impact upon their quality of life. It includes preventative measures that contribute to crime reduction and tackle anti-social behaviour"
What is Crime Reduction?
Unlike community safety which covers a range of issues, the term crime reduction focuses on specific techniques for preventing offences from happening. It:
'encompasses efforts by individuals and organisations to prevent and reduce levels of criminal behaviour in their neighbourhood and further afield. Solutions may also involve tackling quality of life issues and the underlying causes of crime.'
There are two common approaches to crime reduction these are:
- Situational - Changing the physical environment to make it harder to commit crime.
- Social - working with those at risk of committing crime, improving quality of life, reducing fear of crime, supporting vulnerable groups working to reduce the causes of crime.
It was the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 that introduced multi-agency partnerships like Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) and Youth Offending Teams (YOTs), thus making community safety and crime reduction core issues for many agencies to whom they had previously been peripheral.
More from CSAS
Links
- Home Office - Crime Reduction
Home office site for providing information and resources for people working to reduce crime in their local area
www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/ - Home Office - Reducing Crime
General information about community safety
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/community-safety/ - Direct Government
A site that has information about Community safety Schemes where you live
www.direct.gov.uk/ - The National Community Safety Network
Practitioner-led organisation supporting those involved in promoting community safety/crime reduction throughout the United Kingdom
www.community-safety.net/ - Community Safety Info
Provides information and advice on crime & disorder prevention, combating drug and alcohol misuse & related police, justice & penal reform issues; to help develop safer communities
www.community-safety.info/ - NACRO
NACRO is a crime reduction charity that works to give ex-offenders and disadvantaged people the help they need to builds a better future.
www.nacro.org.uk/ - Crime Concern
Charity working to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime.
www.crimeconcern.org.uk/index.asp?m=10 - London Action Trust
Charity working to break the cycle of offending and create safer communities
www.lat.org.uk - Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies aims to encourage and facilitate an understanding of the complex nature of issues concerning crime and related harms.
www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/
Downloads
- The National Community Safety Plan 2008-2011
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/
Advisory Service
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Email csas@lat.org.uk
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